Pupils research slavery route

Nine pupils from six area schools took part in the project.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A group of area pupils spent the last two years researching the history of the local arm of the Underground Railroad, the route escaping southern slaves used to flee to the North in the 1800s.
What they learned can be found in a 56-page publication called, "Riding the Rails: Discovering the Underground Railroad in Northeast Ohio & amp; Western Pennsylvania."
Nine pupils from various local schools participated in the project, launched two years ago as an inter-school study on the Underground Railroad by Ben McGhee, former superintendent of the Youngstown city schools.
Penny Wells, seventh- and eighth-grade honors and gifted program history teacher at Volney Rogers Junior High School, is serving as project coordinator.
"Riding the Rails" was the writing portion of the study, she said, pointing out that it was McGhee's proposal to pair a local historian and a history teacher with kids to do a study of the local portion of the railroad.
Wells and Vincent Shivers, a local historian now studying for a master's degree in history at Youngstown State University, led the study.
Committed kids
It involved a long-term commitment on the part of the children. They had to agree to do the research and the writing, Wells said.
The project ran through the school year with participants taking occasional field trips on Saturdays and during the summer months to locations they were learning about.
The book touches on the national Underground Railroad movement but focuses on the activity in this region.
Participating pupils visited sites in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties in Ohio and Mercer and Crawford counties in Pennsylvania.
They also took field trips to Harriet Tubman's home in Auburn, N.Y., and a church in Niagara Falls, Canada, which was started by runaway slaves.
Tubman was perhaps the best known of the Underground Railroad's conductors.
The book
Pig Iron Press, 26 N. Phelps St., joined the project this year and did the book design work.
Inspection copies of the book are available at that location. It retails for $15.
Wells said the book was written for eighth-graders to use in the study of local history.
Participants
Participating pupils and their schools are: Rabab Al-Sharif, Rukiya Fleming and Danielle Rudloff of Chaney High School, Jack Daugherty and Taylor Daugherty of Ursuline High School, Jasamine Driskell of Woodrow Wilson High School, Lea Van Kline of Willow Creek Learning Center, Niya Merriweather of Hayes Junior High School and Marissa Parm of Youngstown Christian School.
gwin@vindy.com